State Repulse to the Violence and Lawlessness of Protests: An Overview of the State of Missouri in a Proposed Security Plan
“We respect, and will defend, the right to peacefully protest, but we will not tolerate violence or lawlessness in our state,” Kehoe said in a statement earlier this week. While other states may wait for chaos to happen, the state of Missouri is taking a proactive approach in the event that help is needed for law enforcement.
National Guard troops were sent to Austin and San Antonio ahead of protests. In Missouri, the state’s governor activated the National Guard as a precautionary measure.
The Wilshire Federal Building is expected to be protected by Marines who will have shields and batons, but will not have arresting powers.
The events come in the wake of the President activating the California National Guard against Governor Newsom’s and LA Mayor Bass’s wishes, as well as sending Marines to Los Angeles. The first group of 700 Marines arrived on Friday.
Thousands of service members and their families are expected to attend a military parade in Washington, D.C. on Saturday to celebrate the US Army’s 250th anniversary.
The Los Angeles Parade: Military Demonstration Before Trump Secured a Presidential Determination and Will Military Restrooms Be Left Behind
Some protesters have clashed with the law enforcement, set cars ablaze, and vandalized buildings during protests, which have generally been peaceful. Police have arrested dozens of people across the country.
This week’s protests included in Seattle, Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York. Protests in Los Angeles have been ongoing all week in response to the administration ramping up immigration enforcement in the city.
Plans for commemorating the milestone anniversary have been in place for at least a year – long before Trump had secured a second term. The parade feature added in recent months ballooned the budget for the event by tens of millions of dollars and left planners for both the city and military scrambling to prepare.
The parade is part of a larger slate of events, all taking place around the National Mall. Beginning at 11 a.m. ET, the Army will host a public festival with military demonstrations and live music, before the parade begins at 6:30 p.m.
Trump requested a parade after seeing a military demonstration in France. At the time, officials were able to keep the notion at bay, citing the questionable optics of a peacetime demonstration.
Democratic lawmakers call the showcase a misuse of funds since the parade was announced.
The Democratic senator from California called it “shameful” that Trump is using the military to communicate his views on veterans’ benefits.
Matthew Frakes, an assistant professor at the Ohio State University, believes that America has a history of small military parades like Independence Day and Veterans Day. He said the key with this parade will be to see how much of it focuses on history versus a show of America’s military prowess.
Already, the weekend festivities have racked up an expected price tag of between $25 million and $45 million, according to Army spokesperson Heather J. Hagan. There will be road repairs due to the possible damage from tanks rolling on the streets.
When Peirce Economakis was a bartender on Tuesday evening in Shaw, he said that the main road in the area was suddenly closed off due to a large truckload of military machinery driving through. He thinks the whole scene lasted about 30 minutes.
No Kings, Army Celebrates His 79th, and Tanks and Flyovers: A Discrimination Against Power and Corruption
“It’s surreal. It’s a little depressing. “I think a lot of people forget that people actually live here and it’s not, you know, some sort of playground.”
Reagan National Airport has stated it will close for several hours on Saturday to accommodate the military flyover, which could cause flights to be disrupted.
The city has installed steel plates on the parade route to protect it from further damage. Heavy machinery and tanks could rip up roads and require millions of dollars to repair if the D.C. Mayor’s concern is correct.
The last major military parade was held in D.C. in 1991, to commemorate fallen soldiers from the Gulf War. But even that move was seen as controversial, says Joshua Zeitz, a historian and contributing editor for Politico magazine.
“He’s really reinventing the presidency as something that doesn’t resemble what it has traditionally in American history, and the military parade is part of that,” Zeitz says.
Frakes says military parades are meant to commemorate, whereas in authoritarian regimes they are meant to intimidate.
“On June 14 – Flag Day – President Trump wants tanks in the street and a made-for-TV display of dominance for his birthday,” No Kings said in a statement on their website. “A spectacle meant to look like strength. But real power isn’t staged in Washington. It rises up everywhere else.”
The group said that in order to pull attention away from the display of military grandeur, No Kings would specifically not demonstrate in Washington on Saturday, and instead host their largest demonstration in Philadelphia – the city known as the birthplace of America.
“Instead of allowing this birthday parade to be the center of gravity, we will make action everywhere else the story of America that day: people coming together in communities across the country to reject strongman politics and corruption,” the group said.
As of Friday afternoon, the National Parks Service had approved a protest permit for just one demonstration related to the parade, but other unsanctioned protests could pop up.
Trump’s response to the LA protests against ICE immigration raids: When will we know if he’ll be there?
Trump is already facing sharp blowback for his decision to deploy the military to Los Angeles amid protests against ICE immigration raids. He has vowed to take action against demonstrators at Saturday’s events.
“For those people that want to protest, they’re going to be met with very big force,” he told reporters from the Oval Office. I haven’t heard anything about a protest, but they will be met with a lot of force.